They clapped, they cheered and they pounded on the bar when the home team finally won one — and in the end, Marin maritime enthusiasts predicted Sunday, the 34th America's Cup might come down to technology.

"It was a great race," said Ted West of Tiburon, who gathered with family members at the town's Corinthian Yacht Club to watch the third and fourth races in the competition Sunday afternoon.

After Oracle Team USA finally broke its losing streak, beating Emirates Team New Zealand in the final seconds of the fourth race, West, his family and the approximately 50 other onlookers raised the roof.

"Tactically, Oracle sailed a great race," West said. "New Zealand got very aggressive on the turns, but Oracle held them off. New Zealand was taking bigger risks. At one point all that was holding their boat in the water was a foil the size of a surfboard."

Many of the onlookers remarked on the changes in boat design spotlighted in the race.

"These are flying space ships. They aren't boats any more. There have been vast technological advances," said Tracy Dempsey of Tiburon, who watched the races with her husband Peter at the club.

"What you leave behind is tradition," said Peter Dempsey. "It's progress, but not tradition."

To the left of the TV screen in the corner were floor-to-ceiling windows showing off the sparkling waters of the bay, dotted with sailboats of all sizes. The dueling catamarans were faintly visible at times from the windows, though mostly obscured by fog. Some onlookers tried to track them with binoculars, while most sat at the bar or at seats gathered around the television inside.

After the first race, Tom West, who came from Pleasanton to watch with brother Ted, said glumly, "New Zealand crushed them. Beaten by 28 seconds. I think the New Zealand boat is the faster boat."

But he brightened up after the neck-and-neck Oracle win in the fourth race.

Another relative, Jon West of Novato, bucked the trend by saying, "I always root for the underdog. Since the U.S. is the defending champion, I'm rooting for New Zealand."

"We didn't think New Zealand would win it in the design room, given Oracle's design budget, but it looks like that is what is going to happen," said Dan McGraw of Atlanta. McGraw co-owns a boat in Tiburon with friends in town and often visits to sail with them. "They (New Zealand) are faster upwind and not terribly deficient downwind."

Matt Krogstad of San Francisco reinforced McGraw's point, saying, "You spend more time going upwind. Any trouble they get into, they get out of because they dominate upwind."

Not surprisingly, Ed Massey of New Zealand, who often sails with Krogstad in the Bay Area, was sure his country's team would prevail. "Yesterday (Saturday) we were nervous, but by the first race it looked clear who will win."

"Usually when the technology changes, one team just gets it better than the other," said Krogstad. "It looks like New Zealand got it better, even though Larry Ellison is a tech guy."